DUPR Pickleball Night in America Ep. 7
We didn’t do a preview last week of DUPR’s Pickleball Night in America but we are back this week with quite an intriguing lineup. Some of the usual Dreamland suspects are mixed in with some intruders, which is what should make for a fun night of pickleball. No rhyme or reason to these teams, just close DUPR ratings it appears. Let’s preview the matches, with no guesses on the mixed matches that have already been set.
DJ Young / Thomas Wilson vs. Dekel Bar / Daniel De La Rosa
This is a fun one. DJ and Thomas are two fun guys to watch, and then you get the big man Dekel with the most talented non-regular in pickleball, Daniel De La Rosa. DJ and Thomas are a good fit and they are very close friends so you know DJ is going to be rocking and rolling. DJ can play the left with Thomas on his typical right side. The wild card in all of this will be De La Rosa, who has a personality that is not so much suited for the steady Eddy role. Nevertheless, De La Rosa has very strong hands and about as much power as anyone out there with certain shots. He won’t have to do too much with Dekel by his side. While it seems like DJ and Thomas should win this one, we will not be surprised to have a close one that Dekel and De La Rosa pull out.
The slight edge goes to Wilson and Young.
Vivienne David / Megan Fudge vs. Maggie Remynse / Parris Todd
Vivienne David is the only true pro staple in this group of four, but Fudge and Todd are both rising players with Remynse as no slouch when she plays. David is best suited for a more dominant left-side player, which Fudge is not currently. But Fudge is still a talented player who should be able to hang in there. Todd is still learning the doubles game but it seems like only a matter of time before she really starts figuring it out. She had a solid weekend with Michelle Esquivel in St. Louis and the pairing with Remynse should be strong enough to be right there with David and Fudge. There may not be enough offence from the Remynse/Todd pairing, but the same could be said for David/Fudge.
Another slight edge to David/Fudge simply due to David’s experience and rock solid-ness.
DJ Young / Megan Fudge vs. Daniel De La Rosa / Maggie Remynse
These matchups are close as that’s the whole point of this one. The overriding factor in this mixed matchup is that DJ is the best player on the court. De La Rosa actually had a nice little showing with Vivienne David recently in mixed, but Remynse isn’t quite the player that David is. Although Remynse is a stronger player than Fudge at this stage, we think that Fudge should be able to hold up enough to allow DJ to do his thing in this matchup.
We’re going with Young/Fudge here.
Thomas Wilson / Vivienne David vs. Dekel Bar / Parris Todd
So the difference in this mixed matchup that we see is the weak link being Parris Todd. This is a strong group of players and it’s going to be tough for Todd to hold up with David being so hard to attack on the other side. Dekel is always a stronger mixed player on paper and him being big can only make up for so much when you have two players of Wilson and David’s calibre on the other side. This one is an easy choice despite the DUPR probabilities.
Wilson/David should have this one.
Possible Dreambreaker
We have this one going 4-0 but, given how close 3 of these matchups look, that seems unlikely. The singles looks to shake out pretty evenly. DJ on one side and Daniel on the other are not singles players whereas Dekel and Wilson are both very capable. With Todd and David being very capable as well, the disparity may lie in Megan Fudge’s ability to play singles whereas Remynse really doesn’t play any singles and her game doesn’t seem suited to play 4 rally points either.
To continue with the trend, if this goes to the Dreambreaker, we have the 4-some of Fudge-David-Young-Wilson.
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook too!